Results tagged “riverdale”

The four men, arrested back in May for plotting to blow up Bronx synagogues and shoot planes at a National Guard base in Newburgh, NY, will be tried in June of next year. Lawyers for the four defendants had contended that the men were entrapped by the fed's informant, who promised/gave them money and fried chicken dinners, luring them into the plot. But the AP reports the judge "ruled that prosecutors don't have to disclose before trial any payments from a federal informant" to the defendants.

Before Cablevision visited her Riverdale home, 79-year-old Elizabeth Bernd says she was active for her age. But when the cable guy arrived, the Daily News reports, he allegedly "unfastened preexisting wiring that had been fastened together underneath (her) computer desk/station," she tripped over the wires left loose, broke her leg, had a stroke and now is living in a nursing home. Bernd is suing for $5 million, accusing the cable company of negligence noting that she cannot "even talk or eat without great difficulty."

Travel up to the northernmost neighborhoods of Manhattan these days and you might catch a whiff of more than just gentrification in the air—now skunks have invaded Inwood and Washington Heights as well! The area where the only skunk smell formerly found was from the weed sold along Dyckman Street is now crawling with the unwanted pests. The Parks Department's chief naturalist says, “It really seems like the population has gone from zero to many. I’m not sure why."

With lots of attention being drawn lately to the overdose of Dash Snow and the strung-out gutter punks in Williamsburg, DEA agents are confirming just what you'd expect—cheaper, more potent heroin is majorly on the rise around the Big Apple. One addiction specialist at Flushing Hospital says he's seen the number of addicts there quadruple over the last decade. The News took a closer look inside the Bronx drug dens that were part of a massive bust over July 4th weekend, spots where each kilo of heroin is broken into 30,000 tiny glassine envelopes, many of which were stuffed into Build-a-Bears. The home base of leader Jeffrey Alba's operation was "a poisonous death mill” inside a non-descript residential building on Broadway in Riverdale, just across from the baseball diamond of Kelly Field. Authorities say that they hadn't encountered an operation of this scope since heroin's heyday in the '70s, but now these are no longer covering small territories around town. An agent tells the News, "This [Riverdale] group was like a corporation, supplying the whole metropolitan area, Long Island, New Jersey."

The four men indicted on charges of a terrorist plot to blow up two Riverdale synagogues and shoot down military planes were arraigned today, pleading not guilty in a Westchester courtroom. Before the judge arrived, one of the defendants, Laguerre Payen, had to be removed from the court when his baggy pants fell down, exposing his boxer shorts. The Haitian-born Payen is a diagnosed schizophrenic, whose attorney said that he is illiterate and does not understand the charges against him. Payen told the judge, "I don't understand, like the stuff the courts talk about." A federal prosecutor said that Payen's behavior is an act, telling the court, "On April 28th, he is on a very clear recording talking about beating the case in a very sophisticated way. It's very different from the way he's talking now in an effort to mislead the court." The four men face life in prison if they are convicted of the eight-count indictment.

Though a plot to bomb two synagogues in the Riverdale section of the Bronx was foiled by federal and city authorities, concerns remained about the safety of the Jewish Center and Riverdale Temple. Yesterday, Governor Paterson and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand announced that the two institutions would receive $25,000 in federal money for security. Paterson said, "We will make sure that these two institutions as well as all others in the state of New York are protected," while Gillibrand "noted that the Urban Areas Security Initiative, a homeland security grant program, provided money to organizations at a high risk of a terrorist attack, but that fewer than half of eligible applicants received financing this year." Rabbi Jonathan Rosenblatt of the Riverdale Jewish Center told the Daily News, "The children of [the suspected terror plotters] will also be welcome in this house of God. I want them to know that we will fight for them and for their future, because in their future is the true ticket to our real safety."

Three of the four men who were arrested for allegedly plotting to plant bomb outside two Bronx synagogues and shoot planes at a National Guard base in Newburgh, NY were charged with conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction within the United States and conspiracy to acquire and use anti-aircraft missiles. James Cromitie, 55; David Williams, 28; and Onta Williams, 32 appeared in court and were held without bail; assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Snyder said, "It's hard to envisage a more chilling plot to bring murder to a ...community... These are extremely violent men. These people who are eager to bring death to Jews."

The body of a blind man was found at the bottom of a Bronx apartment building's elevator shaft last night. Sheldon Scott had left his 3rd-floor apartment after a fight with his wife, the Daily News reports, and when he didn't return for hours, his wife reported him missing. According to CityRoom, that there have been four elevator-related violations at the Riverdale building on Knolls Crescent, "all addressing the same issue: removing wood from the base of a motor room door...Investigators were trying Friday to learn what led to his death, and whether the elevators doors opened when they should not have or if something else occurred, the police said."

Police have arrested a plumber for shooting an arrow that ultimately pierced the stomach of a woman dropping off her friends at a nursing home in Riverdale. The Daily News reports that police had been questioning area residents when they came across Eric Collins, 27. A source said though the cops were just asking routine questions, "He was acting a little squirrely. He was sweating and shaking. It was clear he knew more than he claimed."

A 51-year-old who was dropping off two friends at a Bronx nursing home when she was shot in the stomach by an arrow. On a quiet Riverdale street, Denise Delgado-Brown collapsed and told her friends, "They shot me with an arrow!"

Mayor Bloomberg is turning his attention to constituents in areas that have a history of being sweet on him in hopes of reigniting the flame as he heads into his newly found reelection year. The Post thinks that catering to areas that strongly supported him in the last election might be the motivation behind some recent moves to provide transit-related relief around town. The paper points out that Staten Island, a Bloomberg stronghold, would be one of the areas benefited most by his successful push to lower the fare hike for express bus riders. Another neighborhood that heavily relies on those buses is Riverdale, one of the few Bronx neighborhoods he won while running against Fernando Ferrer in 2005. The city has just placated many of its residents by cutting in half the number of alternate side parking days they have to deal with due to street cleaning. Supposedly up next to receive similar reductions of both regulation and its accompanying frustration for local drivers are other Bloomberg-friendly neighborhoods such as Brooklyn Heights, Fort Greene and Boerum Hill. Susan Lerner, executive director of Common Cause, New York told the Post, "He needs to be sure people aren't angry at city government in this current economic climate with an election upcoming. He doesn't want to tick people off."